In a quest for self-improvement, author Christopher Hitchens chronicled his attempts at getting beautified for Vanity Fair, applying veneers, receiving mud masks and getting waxed down there for his magazine column.
While women have trimmed, scuplted, shaped and removed most of the hair from their bodies, most especially their lady bits since the Brazilian became popular, men have avoided the hairless trap.
In fact, in the much-lamented, canceled Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, grooming expert Kyan would often be found prodding some hapless straight dude to get some manscaping done.
But, Hitchens — one of many who have experienced the wax — doesn’t wax poetic about pain: “The combined effect was like being tortured for information that you do not possess, with intervals for a (incidentally very costly) sandpaper handjob... Il faut souffrir pour être belle, as the French say. Without suffering, no beauty.”
In a recent Salon article, a writer — male, straight — expounded on the sudden popularity of Manzilians, citing that it’s a tit-for-tat case. He referred to comedian and writer Dennis Perrin, who gleans plenty of material from the topic.
“The one thing about modern single life that perplexes me isn’t the awkwardness of starting over, or trying to understand new women,” says Perrin. “It’s the apparent need for today’s single men to shave their balls.”
The 58-year-old Hitchens isn’t the first to try the Brazilian — nor will he be the last.
With men’s grooming highlighted in numerous lad mags, talk has gone beyond what-tie-goes-with-what-shirt to body-prepping for a date.
And from the conversations I’ve been party to — OK, fine, eavesdropped on — waxing is a prep step no longer limited to females.
“You want to look beautiful upstairs and downstairs,” says a gay male friend. “I can’t go out knowing that my business isn’t in shape.”
And, yes, by business he means the condition of his man junk.